When I was more active in ED spaces, shows like these were really popular. I watched a lot of Supersize v Superskinny but didn’t really bother with the others.
Came from a starved mindset where I so obsessed with food and weight that I only wanted to watch stuff that related directly to food and weight.
There was also discussion in ED spaces I was in about how the stuff that these shows were doing was unhealthy and fucked up but had been deemed entertainment and therefore permissable. But us doing similar stuff was (rightfully) seen as fucked up.
I want to stress that no one in the communities I was in was ever judging the contestants. The only people we were viewing negatively were the producers who were putting people in danger and also like, ourselves.